Author: Adam Kotsko

I recently talked to Doug Henwood about evangelicals and abortion on Left Business Observer.

The last of my backlog of podcasts have been posted, both centering on the Awkwardness trilogy and its relationship with the “cringe” trend in contemporary pop culture.

In the first, I talk to Nostalgia Trap host about awkwardness, creepiness, neoliberalism, and pedagogy — an exceptionally wide-ranging discussion.

In the second, I talk to Craig of Acid Horizon as part of a series of podcast episodes on the back catalogue of Zero Books. Louie CK features heavily.

A couple weeks ago, I sat down to talk to Ryan Cooper and Alexi the Greek about my Slate article on Agamben, for their Left Anchor podcast.

More recently, I discussed my book What is Theology? and my work more generally with David Kline, for the podcast of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville Department of Religion.

Watch this space for two podcast interviews on my Awkwardness Trilogy, which coincidentally came up around the same time. I suppose cringe was in the air….

I recently had a great conversation with John Drabinski for the Conversations in Atlantic Theory podcast. You can find the recording (along with links to Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Amazon Music) here.

If you’re a podcast fan, watch this space, because I have several set up for the next few weeks, on a whole range of topics.

A poster has been available for my talk at Memorial University Newfoundland, including a registration link for those who are interested in attending.

I have a new essay up at Slate about Agamben’s covid writings. I have been working on this piece for a long time, and it’s obviously an issue that is very close to my heart, so it’s good to get it out there.

As part of my research, I interviewed several colleagues, including Eric Santner, who actually produced a short essay in response. I was unable to use the whole thing for the article, so (with his permission) I have posted it at An und für sich.

Later this week, I will be participating in a colloquium on Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom at Wabash College, which was where the lectures that formed the basis for the book were originally delivered. I will be giving one of two keynote addresses — I anticipate that mine, entitled “Beyond Capitalist Freedom,” will be the more critical of the two. Thank you to Jeffrey Gower for the invitation.

On Tuesday, March 1, I will also be sharing the “Beyond Capitalist Freedom” talk as part of a virtual speaker series on neoliberalism at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Thank you to Barry Stephenson for the invitation.

On Monday, March 14, I will be doing a seminar on a chapter from my book What is Theology?, namely “Modernity’s Original Sin,” at the University of Toronto. Thank you to Philippe Theophanidis for organizing this and for providing a stylish poster, even though it’s a private event!

Then on Tuesday, March 15, I will be giving a talk on racism and original sin at Queen’s University in Ontario. Thank you to Dustin Atlas for the invitation.

An article of mine was published in Yonsei Theological Forum. Entitled “The Threat to ‘Our Democracy’ and the Neoliberal Crisis of Legitimacy,” it expands upon a virtual presentation I gave this fall at the Yonsei Theological Forum International Conference on “Democracy and Theology in Global Contexts,” hosted by Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.

I have a new article out in the Australian Humanities Review, as part of an ongoing roundtable discussion of Rachel Sagner Buurma and Laura Heffernan’s The Teaching Archive. My contribution is entitled “The Impossible Research Archive.”

This weekend is the American Academy of Religion national conference in San Antonio. Unlike apparently the majority of my colleagues, I will be attending in person! I will be part of three sessions, only two of which are officially on the books. The two official sessions are as follows:

• “Capitalism, Dis-ease, and the Long Shadow of COVID-19” (Religion and Economy Unit), Monday, 12:30 PM-2:30 PM (Virtual) — a panel discussion on the impact of the pandemic on academic life.
• “Race and the Origins of Capitalism” (Theology and Continental Philosophy Unit), Monday, 5:00 PM-6:30 PM (In Person) — I will be presenting a paper entitled “The Political Theology of Silvia Federici.”

In addition, I will be pinch-hitting as a panelist for “Author Meets Critics: Marika Rose, A Theology of Failure: Žižek against Christian Innocence (Fordham University Press, 2019)” (Theology and Religious Reflection Unit), Sunday, 3:00 PM-4:30 PM (Virtual) — a discussion of a book I am spending a very enjoyable afternoon reviewing!

I look forward to seeing some of you in person there — or, failing that, in little Brady Bunch boxes on my laptop as I sit in my hotel room.